His early Life

Anwar al-Sadat, is one of the greatest leaders in Egypt History. He was born in 1918 into a family of 13 children. Anwar al-Sadat grew up in the town of Mit Abul Kom among average Egyptian villagers, about 40 miles to the north of Cairo. Having completed a grade school education, Sadat's father worked as a clerk in the local military hospital.

By the time of his birth, Anwar's Egypt had become a British colony. Crippling debt had forced the Egyptian government to sell the British government its interests in the French engineered Suez Canal linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Indian Ocean. The British and French had used these resources to establish enough political control over Egyptian affairs to refer to Egypt as a British colony.

4 Figures affected Sadat's early life

The first, a man called Zahran, came from a small village like Sadat's. In a famous incident of colonial rule, the British hanged Zahran for participating in a riot which had resulted in the death of a British officer. Sadat admired the courage Zahran exhibit on the way to the gallows.

The second, Kemel Ataturk, created the modern state of Turkey by forcing the downfall of the Ottoman Empire. Not only had Ataturk thrown off the shackles of colonialism, but he established a number of civil service reforms, which Sadat admired.

The third was Mohandas Gandhi. Touring Egypt in 1932, Gandhi had preached the power of non-violence in combating injustice.

Finally, the young Sadat admired Adolf Hitler whom the anti colonialist Sadat viewed as a potential rival to British control.

Military school in Egypt

In 1936 the British agreed to create a military school in Egypt as part of a deal between the British and the Wafd party. Sadat was among its first students. Besides the traditional training in math and science, each student learned to analyze battles. Sadat even studied the Battle of Gettysburg, the turning point in America's civil war. Upon graduating from the academy, the government posted Sadat to a distant outpost. There he met Gamal Abdel Nasser, beginning a long political association which eventually led to the Egyptian presidency. At this outpost, Sadat, Nasser and the other young officers formed a revolutionary group destined to overthrow British rule.

Sadat in jail

Commitment to their revolution led Sadat to jail twice. During his second stay in jail, Sadat taught himself French and English. But the gruelling loneliness of jail took its toll. After leaving prison, Sadat returned to civilian life. He acted for a bit, and he joined in several business deals. Through one of his deals, Sadat met Jihan whom he would eventually marry.

On July 23, 1952

Sadat recontacted his old associate Nasser to find that their revolutionary movement had grown considerably while he was in prison. On July 23, 1952, the Free Officers Organization staged a coup overthrowing the monarchy. From the moment of the coup, Sadat began as Nasser's public relations minister and trusted lieutenant. Nasser assigned Sadat the task of overseeing the official abdication of King Farouk.